Snakes and Lions
by Cresent Raven
Summary: Voldemort is dead. But so is Harry Potter. Hermione, last of the golden trio, wakes up to a life as servant to none other than Draco Malfoy. But she isn't the only one unhappy with these arrangements... Meanwhile, Fred Weasley searches for Hermione, the girl he swore to find, after already losing her once... Alternate ending, Fred lives not Ron.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hermione**_

I woke up in a dark, damp sack that swung and shook like a leaf on a very thin branch. In fact, I was pretty sure that was very near the truth. I was probably on the back of a broom. Oh, merlin. I hated brooms. The coarse material of the sack rubbed at my bare arms and I shivered. I was only wearing my filthy jeans and a strappy top, someone had taken my jacket, and it was freezing.

 _Where was I?_ I thought. _How the heck did i get here?_ The last thing I was running from some snatchers, hand in hand with Fred Weasley and then... Nothing. That was it. Where was Fred now? Was he ok? And George? Where were they? Were they worrying about me? Did they know where I was? It was obviously not them on the front of this wretched broom...

 _Where was I?_

I wasn't about to give up just because I had no wand though. Unlike some certain girls, ahem _lavender,_ I wasn't a wimpy cry baby when boys left me. Holding my hand out, I murmured " _accio"_. Nothing happened. _Ok,_ I thought, _no magic, no wand... Climb out?_ It was worth a try... I stuck my hands above my head, pushing out of the hole in the top of the bag. It was draw string and I easily puled my head and shoulders out the top. Yep, I was definitely on a broom. In front of me a dark, cloaked figure rode the broom, completely ignoring me. I looked around and saw four more brooms flanking the one I was on. None of them carried sacks. I let out a sigh of relief. This meant that the twins hadn't been captured. Unless...

No. I couldn't believe that they could be dead. I had to believe the best. It was just me I needed to worry about.

I couldn't get off this broom that's for sure. We were at _least_ 100 metres up in the air, flying over British fields. I didn't like my chances of overpowering the broom either, particularly since I _couldn't fly._ So I would wait, I told myself, lowering myself back down into the sack and wrapping my arms around my knees. For Ron, for Harry, for all those others that had died during the Great Battle at Hogwarts. I wouldn't be another dead hero and if that meant waiting my time in this sack until the time was right then i would do it. I would wait this out and _be_ _brave._..

I must have dosed off because the next minute we had stopped and the sack I was in was being dragged along the floor. I started to yell and kick, pushing up again to get out of the bag.

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Inspiring words I know but I needed information. All I got was a kick in the gut, making me fall back and get dragged along again. I felt my ankle twist under me, but I didn't give up.

"*# !*! Let me out you complete *# !*'s! Or godric help me I will hex your buttock's into the next week, you utter-"

That was when a wand pocked through the hole in the bag and a gruff voice grunted, " _silencio_!"

I heard a knock on a door, the creak as it opened and the sound of murmured voices. Then a voice I wished never to hear again rang out, a woman's voice.

"Draco, dear? Come down, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Is there a word with very little profanity that can describe what I was thinking right now? Ah yes.

 _Crap._

 _ **Draco**_

"Draco, dear? Come down, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

I sighed and stood up from my bed, putting down the quiditch magazine I was reading and stretched. Brilliant. Another public appearance. Another time to show the world that I was an utter prat. What fun.

I pulled a black silk shirt over my shoulders and slipped a belt through my trousers, tucking a wand into my pocket. I walked out of my room and down the staircase. I would much prefer to slide down the banister but no. I was 19 now and heir of _Lord Malfoy._ I had to be "professional".

"What is it Mother?" I asked, as I entered the entrance hall. Mum was talking to several filthy men who looked like their heads had been pulled through a hedge backwards. I was shocked that she would let them into the house actually. And on the floor, by mum's feet, was a big sack that kept on twitching like something alive was in there. She didn't reply to me so I repeated. " _What, mother?"_

"Draco, these men are our guests. They have brought our family a gift." She smiled at me but it didn't meet her eyes. It was her _humour_ me smile that went with the title Lady Malfoy, wife of the new dark lord. She hated it, I could tell, but she loved dad enough to accept the position. Either that or she was too frightened to refuse it.

"Oh?" I asked, bored, but I decided to play along for her sake. Then one of the men, who I presumed were common snatchers wanting glory, pulled open the bag and dumped the contents on the floor. I caught my breath.

A young woman tumbled out of the bag, a ball of brown hair matted into clumps, pale skin and a lot of filth. She seemed very thin, too thin, and covered in black and blue bruises that spread over her arms. But none of that was why I caught my breath.

As she looked up at me, I took a step back. I recognised those eyes. I'd seen them across the classroom at Hogwarts. I'd smirked at them as I mocked her and her friends. I'd cowered from them as she punched me in the face. And now they looked at me with all the contempt in the entire word.

I took all this in in an instant and quickly looked away, staring hard at the wall. _Of all the girls, it had to be that one didn't it?_

"Mother." My voice was quiet and angry. " What. The. Heck. Is. That. Girl. Doing. In my house?!"

"You wanted a servant of your own, didn't you?" I refused to look at my father as his voice echoed down the hall.

"I wanted a house elf." I retorted through gritted teeth.

"A mudblood, darling." Mother put a hand on my arm, a warning. "The latest servant."

"yeah, sir," one of the snatchers spoke up. " You take the wand away? No magic! Besides," he grinned at me, showing off disgusting yellow teeth. " They're much more fun to play with!"

Ugh. I actually felt sick at that. Did he want me to use her as a torture toy? A thing to crucio for entertainment when I got bored? Or was he on a much more horrible train of thought...

I pushed away the temptation to look inside his mind, Belatrix had taught me Legilimency before she died. I did not want to know what he was thinking.

"She's yours." What. I looked at my father in disgust.

"And why would I want her?"

"Why not?" I could tell my father was loosing patience with me now. "The prize of the golden trio, under the power of the late Potter's nemesis! What could scream victory more than that?"

Of course. He was doing this for himself. How did I not guess?

"Draco." It was a command, not a call. I looked up at my father, sure that he could see the anger in my eyes. "Take her away."

I hated my father then. Right then and there I hated him. But I bit my lip and smirked down at the girl, holding my gaze steady. " Granger. Get up and come with me."

She just stared at me, scowling, her eyes saying "why on earth would I just get up and follow _you?"_ Honestly I didn't blame her.

I walked towards her, reaching a hand out to drag her away. I hated the idea of touching her but I had to be the mean one. I paused, towering over her, and glared at the snatchers. " you've done your business. Now. Get. Out. My. House." I didn't wait to see if they would or not. I just grabbed hard onto Granger's shoulder, digging my nails in harder than necessary, and disapparated upstairs, bringing her with me.

 _ **Fred**_

" _They've locked down the area! We can't disapparate!" George yelled at me, the desperation of a trapped animal in his eyes. I chucked a few stunning spells at the oncoming deatheaters and glanced back at George._

" _What now?" I asked. "Run?"_

" _Run." He confirmed. There were too many to fight and George was badly wounded, his arm bent at an awkward angle, bone sticking out in a bizarre twisted way._

 _I spun around. "Hermione?"_

" _Coming!" I saw her hex the figure on her tail, a swooping motion that sent him crumbling to the ground. Stars, she looked incredible mid battle, her hair was crazy and her eyes had such a look of determination and fierceness in them that it made my heart thump hard. And then she was running towards me and I realised I wasn't running. She grabbed my hand and we ran towards the edge of the forest where we knew the boundary of the lock down spell ended._

 _And then we were out of the forest and George grabbed my other hand and we disapparated just as I heard a shout and Hermione was tugged from my grasp._

I woke up, with a gasp and looked around me. The comforting, stone walls of Shell Cottage stared back at me, the sun shining through the small, stained glass window. In the distance I could hear the soothing tinkle of wind chimes and as I took a deep breath, I smelt mum's famous apple pie, wafting up from downstairs. To my left lay George on an identical bed to mine, his arm no longer broken but wrapped in white cloth at his side, his eyes closed, peacefully sleeping.

Then I remembered. Hermione.

I turned to George, shaking him awake. " George!" I hissed. "where's Hermione?"

I watched him gradually wake up, take in our surroundings with a smile of relief, and then watched in slip off his face and be replaced by shock as he took in what I said.

"I-I..." He swore loudly, the look of horror on his face increasing every second. "I don't know."

We searched the house after that, double checking every room and questioning every family member. None of them knew where she was. George kept on swearing under his breath, over and over again in between apologies. I just searched, over and over again, refusing to believe that she was really gone.

She was really gone.

"Fred, mate..." George's voice was a shakey croak. "I'm so sorry..." It wasn't his fault. I knew that but at that moment I wouldn't acknowledge it. I turned away, to the window, staring out at the sea.

"We are going to find her." I told myself more than him. I turned back to George. We were only a foot apart and being identical twins we were the same height. But as I stood there with all my anger, I felt like I towered over my brother. " We are going to find her, George, no matter what."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello!**

 **Ok call me an absolute** _ **plonker**_ **but i thought there would be a separate part to write the intro/my comments. There wasn't and i only just realized so here they are on the second chapter!**

 **If you couldn't already tell, i have never written a fanfiction and posted it before so I'm new to the whole fanfic thing. I'd really appreciate any support on how to make my writing better.**

 **I'd love any comments but please don't be intentionally mean... No one likes that. Constructive criticism is welcome though!**

 **I honestly don't know where I'm going with this story, including whether it's going to be Fremione or Dramione... I thought I'd just see! Please let me know what you think and any ideas where you want the story to go, I'm not just writing this for me.**

 **Please be patient with me, its all very new. I'll definitely post once a week... I think.**

 **And just a disclaimer, i own nothing but the story line, JK owns everything else!**

 **Thanks!**

 **-Cresent xx**

 _ **Hermione**_

As soon as Malfoy had apparated us upstairs, onto a carpeted, grand landing, I yanked my shoulder out of his grip and punched him in the face, feeling my fist colide with his nose. I pulled his wand out of his pocket and stood up, pointing it at his face. What curse could I place upon the man who bullied me and my friends during Hogwarts? There was so much I could do to this man and I readied my wand to do so. Then my hand paused as he started to laugh. Actually laugh.

"What are you going to do to me, Granger? Hex me into the next month?" He snorted, dabbing at his bloody nose with a black silk handkerchief. If it was any other situation, I would have laughed back at him. _Silk handkerchief._ Posh boy till the end. But I just glared at him. I was indeed planning to hex him into the next month.

" Come on, Granger. I thought you were smart" he sneered at me. "There are at least two other skilled deatheaters in this house and all you have is a wand that, by the way, you _stole_ not won from me. I'm not a wandmaker but I'm _pretty sure_ my wand won't work for you. Do you want to try? Do you want to see how a wand would work when forced against its master?"

I scowled at him, the wand still pointed directly between his eyes. He was right, dammit.

"Bring it on then" he carried on, "Stun me, hurt me, do your worse. You can't get out of this house. You can't disaparate without Fathers permission. If I get hurt, you'll feel twice as much pain when my parents find out."

 _Maybe it would be worth it,_ I thought. I could feel my face blushing, getting gradually redder as he taunted me. He probably enjoyed every minute of this, finally having complete power over me. I hated it. I hated him.

The angry sparks that shot out his wand and made him fly across the landing corridor, through a door and hit a wall, weren't intentional. I didn't even know I _could_ __do such power without meaning to, particularly with another's wand.

I crept over to Malfoy, hesitantly, and squatted beside him. He had been repelled backwards into a room which was probably his, I assumed, from the green and silver dressings and the quiditch posters I saw around me. Malfoy was lying against a book shelf, limp and pale, although pale wasn't a change really. A good dozen books had fallen on him, thick, old, leather bound books as well as glossy new covers. I recognised some of our school text books as well as The Tales of Beadle the Bard and a few others. Huh. I didn't know Malfoy even _liked_ books.

He seemed to be breathing and I couldn't see any injuries on him so I just sat there, watching him, waiting for him to wake. What else was I supposed to do?

 _The death of Voldemort had done him good_ , I thought begrudgingly. There were no longer dark shadows below his eyes, his hair was longer, almost shaggy now, but much more controlled than it was a couple of years ago. The worry creases on his forehead had vanished as well. _Why had I noticed them in the first place?_ I scolded myself. _Hermione? What the heck?!_

I stood up, shaking my head to clear it and looked around. A large window took up most of one wall, looking out onto the gardens. Probably locked but a simple _alohamora_ would change that... I walked over to the window and cast the spell. Nothing happened. But I tried the windows and they weren't unlocked... I wondered why Draco needed strong magic to keep his windows shut...

So I was stuck in here. Brilliant. I looked around again, my eyes falling on the grand mahogany book shelf that Malfoy was resting against. _Ok, he wanted me to be his servant,_ I thought, a smirk forming on my lips, a plan forming in my mind. _I'll just have to do some tidying for him..._

I strode over to the book shelf and glared down at Malfoy. I pointed his wand at him again. _Swish and flick._

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I guided a now floating Malfoy onto the floor next to his bed (because he didn't deserve the comfort of the bed) and set to work...

 _ **Malfoy**_

Ow! Flippin' heck Granger! I woke up with a pain in my neck and drool on my chin. Oh crap, I hope she didn't see that... I wiped the drool off my chin with the back of my sleeve and looked around me.

The first thing I noticed was how unusually tidy my room was. I mean, it wasn't _bad_ before, but now I couldn't see a single thing out of place, no dust or sweet wrapper or anything! The second thing I noticed was the girl asleep on my armchair.

Her head had fallen over one arm of the black velvet chair and her legs were swung over the other. Drawing closer I noticed, with a snort, that her mouth was wide open as she slept, not lady like at all. A small part of me wanted to close it, another very childish part of me wanted to see how many grapes I could fit in her mouth and another part of me wanted to cup her face and kiss her. _What the flip Draco?!_ I thought, instantly pushing that thought away. This was _Granger_ we were talking about. Not some cute, easily pleased slytherin girl. The enemy. The servant. The Gryffindor Girl. The girl that was staring, groggily, up at me in alarm.

I backed away fast. " What the heck, Granger!"

She scoffed " 'What the heck _me?'_ What the heck _you,_ Malfoy! Why are you staring at me?!"

Busted. "Why are you asleep in my armchair?" I tried to push the blame back to her.

"Well I didn't fancy sleeping on your bed, I don't know what you get up to on it. And if you hadn't noticed, or demanded that I be here for you to mock and torture and slave for you, I'm kinda stuck here!" she had sat up now, her fists clenched angrily as she yelled in my face. Wow.

I frowned at her, all anger that I had before was gone now. What she said bothered me. " You think I _want_ you here?"

She wilted a little at that. " well why wouldn't you? The perfect opportunity to be horrible to me, an obvious scream of victory on the war, like your dad said."

I continued to stare at her. "You think I'm going to torture you." It wasn't a question nor did it get an answer. "You think I want to hurt you."

"Yes" she whispered. "You don't?"

I ran my fingers through my hair in exasperation, rolling my eyes to the ceiling. "Stars, Granger, of course not. Look, I was a complete arsehole in school and I totally get that. But now I-" I froze, reaching for my wand to twirl (a thing I did when I was nervous) but realising it wasn't in my pocket where it usually was. "Granger." I growled "Where's my wand?"

She smothered a smirk, badly, and feigned a look of wide eyed innocence. "Why, Master Malfoy, I simply tidied it for you. I am your servant now..."

"My wand,Granger. Give. Me. My. Wand."

 _ **Fred**_

I didn't wait long after I swore to George that we would find Hermione. We both chucked a few changes of clothes into a bag and some cans of beans and whatnot. My anger had cooled down by this point, replaced by cold, hard determination. I would find her. I would. I would not lose her.

George quickly made up a plan to go back to the forest where we lost Hermione. Perhaps the snatchers who chased us had dropped something? I was doubtful but it was the only lead we had so we had to try...

Finally, _finally_ , we gave our final goodbyes to the family. When I went to embrace mum, she gave me a huge hug around my middle, crushing my ribs, and then she glared up at me.

"You be careful, dear!"

"I will mum"

"And bring my unofficial daughter back safe to me, Fredrick Weasley, or you'll be eating marmite sandwiches for the rest of your life!" I winsed, I hated marmite, but I hated the fact that my own mother was even considering that I would fail my mission even more. I hugged her tight back and stepped away, the promise in my eyes and in my hug stronger than any words could be.

George waited for me. "Ready Fred?"

"Ready George"

And we disaparated.

 **Not so much from Fred in this chapter, i wanted to get it out quick and this seemed like a good place to stop. Please review!**


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